Was it Voodoo? Massachusetts mother charged in macabre murders of sons

By Cody ShepardGatehouse Media Massachusetts

Wednesday

Feb 7, 2018 at 3:21 PM

A 43-year-old Brockton, Mass., mother was held without bail after pleading not guilty on Tuesday to two counts of murder in the stabbing deaths of her sons.

BROCKTON, Mass. — She stabbed her two sons to death, wrapped them in sheets, placed them in their beds, then mopped up the blood — but she didn’t call for help until possibly two days later, prosecutors said.

Latarsha Letrice Sanders, 43, pleaded not guilty in Brockton District Court on Tuesday to two counts of murder.

About a dozen family members attended the arraignment, including Sanders’ two adult children, Shalea Sanders and Kadeem Sanders-Alfred. Some wept aloud in the courtroom as the gruesome details of the case were read.

Sanders is charged in the stabbing deaths of her two sons — 8-year-old Edson “Marlon” Brito and 5-year-old Lason Brito — who were discovered inside their home at 245-247 Prospect St. early Monday afternoon.

Court documents obtained by The Enterprise say that the mother told police the stabbings were part of a “Voodoo ritual.”

Police were first called to the home about 12:07 p.m. after Sanders asked a neighbor to call the police — for herself. But inside the third-floor apartment, investigators say they found both children dead in their beds. One that appeared to be stabbed at least 50 times.

Sanders initially denied any involvement in her sons’ deaths. Prosecutors say she placed the blame on her 18-year-old son and that man’s father. But investigators say they determined Sanders was solely responsible.

“Ultimately, she started to tell police exactly what happened to her children on that day,” Assistant District Attorney Jessica Kenny said during Sanders’ arraignment. “She explained to police officers what she called part of a ritual or a ritualistic incident.”

Court documents reveal that Sanders told police “it was because of the Voodoo stuff” when she was asked why she stabbed her older son.

“As the officers continued to interview her in regards to the ritual, Ms. Sanders stated that no one was supposed to get hurt and then admitted that she only killed one baby,” state police Detective Kevin MacDermott wrote in a probable cause arrest report.

Sanders told police that she stabbed Edson, who was more commonly known as Marlon, first — on his legs and in the chest with a kitchen knife, the report states.

“She said she stabbed him because she had ‘failed’ in the ritual with Marlon,” Kenny said. “She explained the ritual and said that it came out wrong in the first one and she had failed. For that reason, she had to move onto the second child.”

Family members told police that Sanders was “into Voodoo” and obsessed with the “Illuminati,” according to court documents. She is “mentally unstable” and “crazy,” they told investigators.

“Latarsha began her obsession with the Illuminati theory two years ago from a YouTube video,” court documents state. “Since then, Latarsha has been obsessed with ideation, rituals and numbers regarding the Illuminati, as well as sacrifices.”

The Illuminati initially referred to the Bavarian Illuminati, a secret society from the 1700s with a mission of taking over the world. But, in modern day, many conspiracy theories propose that major world events are controlled by the group.

On Monday, police spoke to Sanders’ mother and, when asked who might harm the children, she responded, “No one else would do this but her,” court documents state.

Sanders told police that she mopped up the blood on the floor. Kenny said investigators located that mop.

“She indicated that she used a kitchen knife to stab both of them and she left it in the sink. That was corroborated by first responders, who located what appears to be the murder weapon in the sink in the home,” Kenny said. “She also indicated that she cleaned up the children and placed them in two separate beds.”

The autopsy of Edson was performed at the time of the arraignment. Kenny said he was stabbed “approximately 50” times. The autopsy of Lason hadn’t been conducted yet, but Kenny said he was believed to have suffered fewer stab wounds.

Sanders, who was initially taken by ambulance to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton before the children were even discovered, was later interviewed at the Brockton police station, where she supposedly confessed to the crimes.

District Attorney Timothy Cruz said Monday evening that the children were believed to have been dead for up to 48 hours by the time they were located. He said Tuesday the exact timeline was still being determined.

The last known time the children were alive was Saturday, when Sanders brought her sons with her when she stopped at her mother’s house in Randolph. She was supposedly going to bring the children to the hospital because of flu-like symptoms, but investigators are still trying to determine if they ever went.

Sanders is being represented by attorney Joseph Krowski Jr., who said he didn’t have time to fully review the case information by the time of the arraignment. He asked for any potential bail to be set without prejudice, meaning he could have a full-bail argument in the future.

He declined to comment to The Enterprise outside the courtroom, only saying, “It’s too early.”

Kenny, the prosecutor on the case, asked the judge to hold Sanders without bail, with prejudice.

Judge Paula Clifford ordered Sanders held without bail, but without prejudice, giving Krowski a chance to argue bail at a later date.

Sanders is due back in court on April 9 unless she is indicted by then.

Cody Shepard is a reporter for The Brockton (Mass.) Enterprise.

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